Coach could have faced more charges in groping case

Two women decided not to proceed with their complaints against Manatee High's Rod Frazier.

CHRIS ANDERSON and KATY BERGEN

A Manatee High assistant football coach who was charged with seven counts of battery last week could have been facing more charges had two women decided to proceed in the case with their claims.

Rod Frazier, 35, could have been facing nine counts of first-degree misdemeanor battery, but two former Manatee High students decided recently not to participate, even though probable cause affidavits originally named them as battery victims, police records show.

Those affidavits are no longer included in court documents, and it is not known why the former students chose not to go forward in the case.

One of the victims who elected not to proceed claimed Frazier “grabbed her butt” on 20 different occasions inside his school office from 2010-2012 and said he had a “groping problem,” according to a Bradenton Police report.

She also said Frazier would get jealous if male students spoke to her and treated her as if they were in a relationship.

The other woman who declined to proceed said Frazier offered to buy her a drink at a bar and restaurant in Palmetto while she was a Manatee High student in 2012 and “rubbed his hands on her lower back and buttocks” at the establishment.

The State Attorney's Office announced on Friday that Frazier is being charged with seven counts of first-degree misdemeanor battery — punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine — and three counts of interfering with school attendance, a second-degree misdemeanor.

One of the women no longer involved in the case was also listed as a victim in an attendance interference charge. Had she chosen to go forward Frazier would have been facing four interference with attendance charges.

Seven different women are named as battery victims, according to the report. Included as battery victims are a current Manatee High counselor, a math teacher and a former parent liaison at the school.

Frazier, who has not been arrested and is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 8, has denied the charges through his attorney, Ed Mulock.

Frazier remains employed by the district and has been on paid leave since Feb. 8. He made $27,033 last year as a parent liaison.

At a news conference Monday, Manatee County Superintendent Rick Mills said that new investigator Troy Pumphrey will resume a district inquiry into Frazier beginning today.

Pumphrey, who spent decades as a Washington, D.C., police detective and comes from the Florida High School Athletic Association, will be the third administrator to take over the case in the past eight months.

Others may be charged

Former school investigator Debra Horne interviewed witnesses about Frazier for one day in November and then shut down an investigation that did not resume until January. By the end of that month, she abruptly transferred to Prine Elementary. Assistant superintendent Scott Martin took over the case, but it was suspended when police began investigating in February after a Herald-Tribune story detailed some of the allegations against Frazier. Martin has since been reassigned to staff attorney.

Despite being asked repeatedly, Mills on Monday said little about his thoughts on the initial investigation, declining to comment on something he was not here for.

“My understanding is that he was suspended and or put on paid administrative leave for a very short time and then put back off of paid leave,” Mills said.

Mills said Pumphrey will talk to Bradenton Police about the agency's findings, but he is uncertain as to how long an inquiry could take.

He made it clear that the district could fire Frazier if they found him to have violated school policy or codes of conduct, regardless of how he fares in the court system.

“We take all matters around suspected abuse, either with our students or our employees, very seriously,” Mills said.

In addition to Frazier, Bradenton police have also recommended charges be filed against former Manatee High principal and current assistant superintendent Bob Gagnon; assistant principals Matthew Kane and Gregg Faller, and Horne.

The police have recommended the four be charged with failure to report child abuse, a third-degree felony, and lying to police. The State Attorney's Office has yet to decide if the four will be charged, and Mills has raised the possibility others may be charged as well.

According to the police report in the Frazier case, several former students and school employees described inappropriate behavior dating back to 2006.

One victim, a 2011 Manatee High grad, told police Frazier would give her long hugs inside his office that made her feel uncomfortable and would “grab her butt.”

She said on one occasion Frazier kissed her neck and pulled her pants down below her waistline to “check her out and make sure she was OK” because she had been slammed against a wall.

She also said Frazier asked her to allow him to watch while she had sexual intercourse with another person.

Taken out of class

Another 2011 Manatee High grad said Frazier made her uncomfortable on several occasions by staring at her chest and “giggling.” She also said he rubbed her shoulders and back on the football field when she was a student-trainer.

A girl who wrote a letter to Manatee High principal Don Sauer on Jan. 9 claiming inappropriate behavior by Frazier is listed as a victim of battery as well as interfering with school attendance.

She told police Frazier grabbed her by the waist and forced her to sit on his lap in his office. According to the report a teacher saw the incident and confirmed the girl's account.

The girl, who graduated this year from another school, said Frazier met her at a Palmetto park and grabbed her buttocks as he hugged her goodbye.

In a January interview with the Herald-Tribune the girl also said Frazier sent her more than 250 text messages, at least half during class or at night, and that she was in his office more than 100 times and was routinely seen by resource officers, administrators and school employees.

The counselor at Manatee High said Frazier tapped his hand on her chest in the teacher's lounge in December 2012, one month after Frazier was investigated for one day by the district.

The math teacher said she was “creeped out” after Frazier slapped her buttocks at a 2008 Christmas party in front of her then-boyfriend, who is now her husband.

A former parent liaison at Manatee High told police Frazier rubbed his foot up her leg in a sexual manner during a training session in his office.

She originally made her allegations to the Herald-Tribune in February and at that time said she was also deeply concerned about the students who could be potential victims.

“It's a matter of educating them to know they are important, and that no one, especially an adult, should ever think they could take advantage of you in any way,” she said.